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so, as my topic says, im going to be modding my brat into a little rally beast. Im already looking for needed replacement parts such as hood, fenders, grill, rear bumper, etc. mostly cosmetic. but im still planning out the major modifications. One of the first things on the long list of modifications and repairs needed is an engine (well..actually an entire drive system, but engine being the focal point) for the much needed increase in power. im thinking the system from a late 90's impreza; ej25 motor, manual transmission, awd.

actually, let me take a step back and just lay out the basic overall idea for the project. basically i want an every day driver that i can also go play in the sand with . cosmetically i want it to look like a factory soup up. very simple black body with white accents. mechanics is a who different story. im going to be building it for aggressive offroad use, so a small lift and slightly larger tires is in order. and an engine with much greater power; more specifically torque.

any ideas on what engine or what vehicle to steal the drive system from? or any other ideas or tips? i will post pictures shortly, but considering im not in the same state as my brat at the moment, i only have pictures from earlier this year

Well, as cool as that sounds, what kind of shape is your BRAT in?
Clapped out ready for a rebuild or still fresh and mostly rust free?
These things are getting rarer and rarer, so the more we as a community can save of the nicer ones, the better.
Anyway, your best bet for a 2.5L is the EJ251 out of the 99 and up Imprezas, as the EJ25D is a giant pile of crap comparatively. The EJ251 is the SOHC 2.5L, where as the EJ25D is the Dual Cam.
The EJ251 has a slight power increase over the EJ25D as well as reduced complexity since it only has 2 cams instead of 4.
As for transmission choices, Pretty much any EJ 5sp will mate to the engine no problem, 4 or 6 bolt bell housing.
Getting it to fit in the Tranny Tunnel will be a different trick. If you go with an EA Dual Range you'll need an adapter to bolt it to the engine, but it will fit better and give you that lower range gearset. However, you are sacrificing strength in that the D/R's were only designed to see 100hp or less from the factory. Mind you, it doesn't mean they aren't tough. People run EJ22's in front of them all day every day. But they won't have the same strength as a Newer EJ 5sp gearset that was designed to work with 165hp+ every day.
Lifts are easy to find instructions to, so are finding wheels that will fit/adapt to your usage.
So step back, calculate your budget, your skills and your car before you start hacking into anything, and decide if you'll be saving/enhancing a classic, or hacking up an icon.
Twitch

i would describe the condition of it as: eh. frame looks decent and feels pretty solid, but the body is in kinda rought condition. left fender has a massive dent (i wouldnt even call it a dent. i would just say the fender is bent) that interferes with the driver door opening; unrepairable. right fender got attacked by a bear (litterally. there are bite marks above the tire. same thing happened to the same fender on my brothers outback). and the hood, somehow, got rusted through in the engine compartment. cant see it when its closed. the rear sill (body panel under the rear bumper) is a jagged rusted mess. theres little bits of rusted through spots along the bottom of both side of the car. and theres the all to common rust through on the wheel wells in the bed. and its in despirate need of a paint job. mecahnically; the brat purrs like an angry dog. the muffler rusted off, so it has quite the growl (i prefer the way it sounds without a muffler) but other than that it runs quite nicely. only problem is that it has a lot of trouble starting in the cold. i remember reading a thread here a while back that said something about the wiring or connectors on the starter being bad can cause this.

with reguards to the transmission, ill definitely be using an ej transmission for 2 reasons; first of all the ea tranny i have is a 4 speed, so i have no highway gear. at the moment, i have to be going at aroung 3k rpm constantly to maintain highway speeds. and i dont doubt the integrity of the ea tranny, but id feel much more comfortable running one that is designed for the motor id be running.

i like to think im saving it from the grips of a rusty death and then putting it on steriods considering the fact that most people i know either think its a pile of junk and i should throw it off a cliff, or they think its the ugliest car ever and i shouldnt assiciate myself with it lol. as for budget, im not limiting myself on how much money total is going to go into it. pretty much as much as it takes to make the way i picture it being, into reality.

Sounds like a fair candidate
I apologize for the wall of text, as my new phone doesn't like to format properly with USMB's text boxes.
Enjoy your build, as I drove a worse "wreck" than that for 4 years, and happily at that. It should be fun to put together. And if you lift it enough, you won't have to worry about the Tranny hitting the tunnel
Twitch

Attached Files

I would go ej22 with a newer ej tranny, the ej25 is an interference engine which means that if your timing belt happens to break, your pistons are going to slam into each other leaving you completely screwed and having to basically rebuild your engine. The ej22 on the other hand is a non interference engine(you should still change out your timing belt though). personally what i would do is go find an ej22 turbo from an old legacy, i believe the best years are around 92-94, there's a thread about it somewhere, shove that bad boy in there get around the same power for a lesser cost and less worry about having to rebuild your entire engine.